Some education and confusion in terminology....
Transgender
Transgender is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of identities. While so many of us take our gender identity for granted, others suffer with conflict and confusion living as one gender while feeling like another. This experience can lead individuals to isolation from family and friends for fear of being discovered, and often self-destructive behavior for being different. I believe it’s time to embrace people of all genders, learn to understand and accept their differences.
Knowledge equals power so let’s begin by learning some basic definitions:
Cross-dresser (CD) is someone who simply enjoys wearing clothes from the opposite gender. They may or may not be sexually stimulated by the act.
Drag Queen or Drag King is a cross-dresser who dresses for theatrical reasons, is often an impersonator and entertainer. They may or may not be sexually stimulated by the act.
Transvestite (TV) is a cross-dresser who is sexually stimulated by dressing up in clothes of the opposite gender.
Transsexual (TS) is a person who dresses as, desires to be and may undergo surgery to alter their body so that they can live their lives as the opposite gender.
Transman (FTM) refers to female-to-male transgender people.
Transwoman (MTF) refers to male-to-female transgender people.
Transgenderist (TG) describes someone who dresses and is living full-time in a new gender role, but they do not desire to have any physical body altering surgery.
Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) is the term for physiological gender surgery. Female to male (F2M) transsexuals have top surgery (double mastectomy) and bottom surgery (hysterectomy and reconstructive surgery) that will reshape the female body into a body with a male appearance. Male to female (M2F) receive hormones and have Vaginoplasty, a technique which turns the penile skin inside out creating the depth of a new vagina somewhere between 5-7 inches.
She-male is a male who chooses to have both male and female characteristics with the help of hormones and/or surgery, which differs from an intersexed individual, formerly called “hermaphrodite” who is born with ambiguous genitalia.
There are so many myths about transgender that I wanted to take this opportunity to separate some myths from fact.
One myth I’ve heard all too often is that transgender people are all gay when in fact,
sexual orientations among transgender people vary just as much as they do among non-transgender people. This is supported by the results of a study done by Dr. Wardell Pomeroy (co-author of the Kinsey Reports and director of the San Francisco based Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, which found that 68% of cross dressing males were exclusively heterosexual in their preference, while only 50% of non-cross dressing males had an exclusively heterosexual orientation. Other misconceptions about cross-dressers are that those who experiment with wearing clothes of the opposite gender are automatically considered CD’s. Not so because they are not cross-dressing regularly or including cross-dressing into their daily lifestyle in public and at home.
Perhaps the biggest false impression is that a transvestite (TV) is a transsexual (TS) while the only similarity is that they both enjoy wearing clothing of the opposite gender, but for very different reasons. A (TV) can revert back to his male gender identity and sexuality even though he enjoys wearing feminine clothing, while a (TS) truly identifies with the opposite gender physically, emotionally and sexually and often feels like he is trapped in a woman’s body or vise versa.
The good news is that with the advent of the internet and media, there is more open-mindedness and most importantly, there is help for people who are suffering in silence from Gender Dysphoria, the clinical term for Transgenderism, which translates to Gender Confusion.
The better news is that there are happy, healthy transgender folks living in loving relationships and they like to be referred to as Gender-gifted with emphasis on not being confused, but simply having more options to choose from.
For an article on Issues of Countertransference in Therapy with Transgender Clients, written by Christine Milrod, M.A. go to: http://www.transgendercounseling.com/trans1.htm
For a therapist who specializes in transgender issues, go to http://www.transgendercounseling.com
Transgender, Transsexual, Crossdresser Counseling & Psychotherapy In Los Angeles
http://www.lagendercenter.com/
Role-playing and trying out different gender expressions can also be fun with Fantasy Playing Cards from www.fantasyplayingcards.com a great stocking stuffer and Valentines gift.
(Taken from Dr. Ava Cadell's Dec. 2006 Newsletter www.avacadell.com)
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